2009 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement
Deborah Jin is a distinguished atomic physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an associate adjoint professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a fellow of JILA, a joint institute of NIST and CU-Boulder. She is one of only a handful of women physicists who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and by far the youngest to have received that honor. Her technical innovations in the field of ultra cold Fermionic atom gases have led to discoveries that define this new area of physics research. Her research has been described as the crucial first step in developing superconductors that work at room temperature. The development of such superconductors could lead to faster computers, smaller cell phones and lower electric bills. Jin earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and an A.B. from Princeton. In 2003, she received the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. Other honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the American Physical Society's Maria Goeppert Mayer Award, the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award from NIST and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics.